Birthday BUST

How would I describe myself in most situations? Calm, cool, collected. One place I am NEVER those three things...the Sprint store. What is it about dealing with cell phone companies that comPLEtely sends me over the edge. Every. Single. Time. It's embarrassing. And hopeless. Please tell me you kind of feel the same?


Yesterday, I threw Yosh's iphone 4S at him. "Happy Birthday. You better like it." Why the lack of enthusiasm? Oh don't worry, Sprint had already told him what he was getting for his birthday... 5 days early. Totally busted the surprise. And all my hard work. I wasn't shocked at how it ended after everything I've been through with them these past couple weeks. Including the day before erasing a message off Yosh's voice-mail that would have ruined the surprise 6 days early instead of 5.


I racked my brain and came up with a great gift for Yosh's birthday- trade in his crappy barely working Blackberry for the Iphone. I called Sprint to see if he was eligible for an upgrade- which I knew he wasn't- but hey, it never hurts to check. Somewhere in that conversation, the lady tells me he's eligible for $150 off. Oh really? Great. I double check, and triple check, and ask her if it's noted so that when I go into the store they'll know. She says it's all in the account. See, it never hurts to ask. {Thank you, AJ, for that life lesson.}  


A week and a half later I go to the store. With two babies in tow. But I've already done all the footwork so this is going to be a piece of cake. Right? A salesperson helps me right away, we go through the story, and.......he says he sees nothing like that in the account. That I will have to call. So I sit myself on the ground- still calm, with a smile on my face- go into mom mode, entertaining 2 kids while making a 20 minute phone call. In the Sprint store. To Sprint. We go through, once again, the same conversation. The guy does in fact see in the notes where the lady told me we had $150 towards a phone. Which is weird because that policy is gone but of course they will honor what she said. My sales guy is listening to this conversation. He hears what they've told me. My sales guy just needs to call account services from the store finish things off. 
My guy calls and.........tells me there's nothing he can do. No, in store he cannot get me that $150 off.  Can I tell you I was about to blow a gasket? Like, that quick. Cool, calm, collected to ready to EXPLODE in 2 seconds flat. What kind of a hold does Sprint have on me? OH it's going to make me CRAZY.


He literally will do nothing to remedy the situation. Doesn't even try. Doesn't suggest another avenue to make things right. He won't even look me in the eye. Just stares off and kinda says sorry. So I leave FIRED UP. And I'm kinda shocked. I thought I had taken all the necessary steps to avoid this disaster. {Yes it was a disaster and don't try to tell me otherwise even tho we're only talking about a phone}. Pretty quick, I'm on the phone with customer service demanding a manager. And that's when Brad enters my life. Sweet Brad who knows how to calm a completely erratic, enraged, WRONGED woman. We went through the same conversation AGAIN, he asked a couple more questions and before I knew it, this sanity-saver was telling me for $45 I could buy out the rest of my contract and get my upgrade. Bottom line, my $650 iphone was now only going to cost me $250. What would you do to save $400? Apparently, a near-heart attack is valued at a low $400 to me. PULL IT TOGETHER, GAY. Although I really want to say PULL IT TOGETHER, SPRINT. And maybe I did tell them they needed to do that....more than once...